


to the casual observer, it would appear

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [28]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 05:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12204966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Harun doesn't particularly like nightclubs, but he quite enjoys people-watching once he's there.





	to the casual observer, it would appear

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Week 1, Day 4 of the Humans 4-Week Challenge. The prompt was "Absentees".

 

Harun had lost sight of his cousins almost as soon as they’d entered the club, although to be fair it was probably his own fault for standing on the edge, instead of following them into the midst of the crowd. He’d tried to tell them that night clubs weren’t really his thing, but Tasim had done her usual trick of pretending she didn’t understand what he was saying, even though he’d addressed her in their shared mother tongue, not English or his poor grasp of German. She’d dragged him along regardless, and so now he’s here, watching a large group of strangers dancing into the early hours.

He’s standing at a sensible distance from the speakers, unlike the red-haired woman nearby, who seems to be actively trying to deafen herself. Her back is pressed right up against the speaker, which is blasting at full volume (or, if it isn’t, Harun doesn’t want to hear what louder than this sounds like). He looks at her in concern, wondering if he should beckon her away with a gesture to his ears. He has no idea how to say “you’re going to burst your eardrums” in German. Not that she’d be able to hear him over this, anyway.

She’s ethereally beautiful, though, this woman, her hair falling in perfect parallels and her face that kind of easy symmetry they modelled synths on. For a moment Harun actually wonders if she _is_ a synth, but no, she’s clearly enjoying the music on a level that’s entirely human - absorbed in it, like she wants to disappear into the rhythm. That makes her even more beautiful somehow.

He’s glad to see somebody approach her - a woman about the same age, her brown hair half down her back and half looped in a bun. From this distance, and with that hairstyle, she could almost be Mattie, and Harun remembers the last text message he sent to her, feels a twinge. She hasn’t replied yet. Which, okay, she’s probably busy. Last he heard, she was moving house. It’s no wonder she’s radio silent.

And besides, he came out to visit Tas and the rest of them partly to get away from all of those lingering maybes, so he refuses to think about it anymore. The brunette girl has persuaded the redhead to move away from the speaker slightly, by the time he glances back at them. He’s struck by how intently they’re looking at each other, as though the mayhem around them doesn’t exist anymore. If they don’t leave together it’ll be a crime, Harun decides.

An arm snakes out from the nearest bunch of people and grabs him. He recognises Tasim’s bracelet, and lets her drag him further into the crowd. Once they’re face to face, she mouths something at him that looks suspiciously like _dance, you idiot_. She knows English well enough when it suits her.

He obeys, not quite so reluctant now, having had the escapism element of his trip to Berlin refreshed in his mind by Mattie’s doppelgänger. A few songs later, when he drifts back out to the walls, there’s no sign of the couple he’d been watching before, and he dares to hope he was right. They’d looked kind of good together, and Harun wishes them luck.

 


End file.
